Wednesday, May 10, 2017

You just saw three monkeys go by on a motorcycle, didn't you? (Jumanji)

Running from monkeys, rhinos, and other beastsare just one of your many feats.Play the game and become free,and call out "Jumanji!"But do not start unless you intendto see the game through to the end.

GAME DESCRIPTION: Jumanji was Published by Hasbro in 1995 for up to 4 players as a tie-in for the movie. Players attempt to land in the circle while various disasters affect them.

SET-UP: Everyone takes a pawn and places it at the appropriate start at the corner of the board. Place the Danger cards and the Rhino on their locations, and everyone takes a Rescue die, placing the stickers on as needed. Whoever suggested the game starts.

MOVEMENT: During your turn, roll the numbered die, and move along the colored path that matches your pawn. Whenever you land on a space during your turn, follow the instructions, then the turn goes to the next player on the left:

WAIT FOR 5 OR 8: The player to the left rolls the die. If it's not 5 or 8, move back one space and the next player rolls. If you go back to the start, you start your next turn their, and both the rolls and your turn ends. If any of the rolls are 5 or 8, both the rolls and your turn end.

RHINO: You may place the Rhino token in front of any player. They cannot move, and instead roll the die during their turn. If it's even, place the Rhino back in its spot. If it's odd, the Rhino stays and follow the instructions of your space.

BLANK: Draw a Danger card and place it in the middle, and read it out loud. Flip over the timer, and all other players roll their Rescue die. If everyone rolls the symbol in the top left of the card, or rolls the Wild symbol (Hourglass) before time is up, then you are safe. Every other player moves ahead the number in the top right, and the card is discarded. If any amount of players fail to roll the symbol or Wild once time is up, then the player who landed on the Blank space moves back the number in the top right. Place the Danger card in the Doomsday Grid, and the turn is now over.

JUNGLE: Draw a Danger card and place it in the middle, and read it out loud. Flip over the timer, and every player rolls their Rescue die. If everyone rolls the symbol in the top left of the card, or rolls the Wild symbol (Hourglass) before time is up, every player moves ahead the number in the top right. If any amount of players fail to roll the symbol or Wild, then place the card in the next Doomsday spot, and reveal a new card. Continue until a Danger card is successfully completed.

ENDINGS: There are 2 ways to finish the game. If a player manages to roll or move with a Danger card the exact number into the middle, they win. If a player is at the middle, and rolls or wins a Danger card higher than needed, they do not move. If the Doomsday board is filled with 10 Danger cards, then the game ends, and is restarted from the beginning.

CONCLUSION: As is the unfortunate case for many tie-in games, this one does not have any real depth to it. The board looks amazing, accurate, and is very on theme. The problem is that the theme is only aesthetically deep. By committing so much to the games look, there wasn't much they could do to make the game mechanically interesting. Luckily, it doesn't outstay its welcome too long, taking at most an hour to play. This is fun for a nostalgia trip or for kids who have just watched the movie, but don't expect to play it much outside of that.